Turbine installations Arnstadt und Bienstädt, Germany

Energy from drinking water – Inauguration of the Francis turbines in Arnstadt and Bienstädt

The “Thüringer Fernwasserversorgung” in Erfurt, Thuringia, operates drinking water supply stations in several cities in Thuringia. W&B have delivered a Francis turbine unit with induction generator for each of the facilities in Arnstadt and Bienstätt. The output 0f 57 kW respectively 65 kW produced by energy recovery is used to supply internal consumers. The surplus energy is fed into the national grid.

Inauguration of hydro power station Bürglen, Switzerland

The new power station Bürglen of the AXPO- Kleinwasserkraft AG was formally inaugurated on September 5th, 2016.  With the new Kaplan turbine of W&B the regular annual production could be increased by 40% to 7 GWh.

In addition to the new turbine complete new hydraulic steel structures were delivered by W&B, mainly:

  • 1 fully automatic trashrack with folding arm trashrack cleaner
  •  2 rapid-action opening gates
  •   1 intake sluice gate of stainless steel

 

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ZEK-KW Buerglen

Inauguration of hydro power station Metzeral / Alsace, France

The formal inauguration of the hydro power station “Metzeral”  was celebrated with an open day on June 27th. Many hydro-interested visitors from the region, as well as politicians and industry representatives attended the ceremony when the start button was pushed and the W&B crossflow turbine began to turn.

This power station was built exceptionally eco-friendly. Nearly no impact was made on the environment. For guiding the discharge water to the turbine the existing penstock of a closed down textile factory is used to get an output of more than 250 kW.

Modernisation and revision of the power plants on the upper Danube

W&B received the order for revision and modernization of the hydro power plant Gundelfingen at the river Danube

Ordering party is the “Obere Donau Kraftwerke AG (ODK) with it’s plant operating company BEW (Bayrische Elektrizitätswerke GmbH) Augsburg, Germany.

Two vertical Voith Kaplan turbines were installed in the power station Gundelfingen in 1964. The two identical turbines with a runner diameter of 4’180 mm produce an output of 7’350 kW at a discharge of 210 m³/s.

In the mechanic-concerned part of the order revision of the guide vane assembly and the shaft bearing are included, as well as the modernization of the hydraulic turbine governor with adaptation of the runner adjustment system and a new high pressure servomotor.

The complete monitoring, supervision, and automatization of the turbine equipment will be modernized together with the wear control by KIMA Automatisierungs GmbH, Gronau, Germany.

W&B is looking forward to a fruitful cooperation with ODK and BEW after completion of the works in spring 2016, as it is intended to continue the modernization on the other 5 powerstations of ODK as well, which are Offingen, Faimingen, Günzburg, Leipheim and Oberelchingen.

Hydraulic Steel Construction completed at Rotzloch power station in Switzerland

Wiegert & Bähr was selected supplier of the entire hydraulic steel structure at the water intake of Rotzloch small hydropower station in Central Switzerland. The scope of delivery included as well the complete hydraulic actuation system and the electric control unit.

For removing even smallest particles from turbine discharge water a so called Coanda Screen was installed. This special screen is completely made of stainless steel and does not need maintenance or cleaning. Only clear water can pass the special designed gaps between the rack bars thus protecting the  turbine runner from extended wear and tear especially at high head installations.

A hydraulically operated fish-beam flap gate of stainless steel was installed for water intake level control and for flood relief. The flap gate is actuated by  one single hydraulic cylinder on the right side of the flap and it is equipped with a heated slide wall.

Last but not least a fully automatic pipe break protection device was installed for safety reasons. This pipe break protection operates self actuated  without auxiliary energy. In the event of break of the penstock and increased flow velocity, the hydraulic butterfly valve closes the penstock automatically by dead weight.

The complete installation was commissioned according to time schedule end of March.

Energy Recovery in Drinking Water Systems

For energy recovering in drinking water supply systems, hydro turbines have been established for years mainly for larger power output. For economical reasons smaller units had been provided with reverse running pumps.

Unfortunately reverse running pumps offer acceptable efficiencies only in a very limited head- and flow range. To make use of the benefits of a turbine  instead of a reverse running pump, Wiegert & Bähr have developed a series of special Pelton turbines for drinking water applications. With these turbines it will be possible to gain back energy economically even in the range significantly below a hundreds of kilowatt. As a matter of fact these small turbines are  produced totally in accordance with the world wide respected Wiegert & Bähr quality standards.

Together with their well established Francis turbines , Wiegert & Bähr cover the complete range of drinking water applications from a few kilowatt only to the megawatt range.

Public inauguration of Willstätt powerstation

Reason to be proud! The new powerstation produces double as much energy as the old plant did. And this powerstation sets new standards in environmental protection: All hydraulic steel structures were made to let salmons and other unfrequent kinds of fishes pass the power station to reach their  preeding areas.

Power Station Obermaubach commissioned

Drinking water power station Maubach with 2-nozzle Pelton turbine and complete electric control equipment was successfully integrated into the existing sophisticated power and control system of the water distribution system.

Hydraulic Steel Structures project in Swiss Alps

Wiegert & Bähr was selected supplier for the complete hydraulic steel structures and trashrack with trashrack cleaner for this project at extreme mountainous and weather conditions.

Start of Installation in Willstätt

This new power station is equipped with one Wiegert & Bähr Kaplan turbine. At a head of 5,15 m the turbine produces an output of 1.2 MW. The generator is of the permanent magnetic water-cooled type.